“Belén”

Quietly devastating and profoundly resonant, “Belén” transforms a true story of injustice into a compelling portrait of female resilience and collective awakening.

Adapted from Ana Correa’s book “Somos Belén” and directed with restraint and compassion by Dolores Fonzi (who also co-stars), the film follows Julieta (Camila Plaate), a young woman from Tucumán, Argentina who is hospitalized with severe abdominal pain. Unaware she is pregnant, she soon finds herself accused of infanticide and handcuffed to a hospital bed, thrust into a legal system more interested in punishment than truth.

What begins as an intimate human tragedy evolves into a broader indictment of institutional misogyny and social hypocrisy. This is a story with a precise moral clarity, and it’s one of the most provocative pieces of feminist cinema that I’ve seen in years.

Plaate delivers a deeply affecting performance as the bewildered and terrified Julieta, a young woman who is never stripped of her dignity. Fonzi is equally terrific as Soledad Deza, the fierce lawyer who transforms a single case into a powerful movement across the country.

Fonzi’s direction favors subtlety over spectacle as her camera lingers on faces and silences that allow the audience to absorb both the personal and political stakes at play. This is a serious drama that explores all angles of the fascinating implications of the legal case.

The film situates itself firmly within Argentina’s ongoing struggle for reproductive rights. It exposes the intersection of class, gender, and power that continues to define the country’s judicial and moral frameworks while also celebrating the activism that challenges them. In doing so, the film transcends the boundaries of a legal drama and becomes a work of social testimony.

A film of quiet power, “Belén” is unflinching, humane, and urgently relevant. It neither simplifies nor sensationalizes its subject. Instead, it honors the courage of those who fight for justice in systems designed to silence them.

By: Louisa Moore